Chapter 3

In the morning, Gabrielle's body woke up before she did. She looked at Avian and Irvine, entwined in each other's arms, and chuckled to herself.

"What's so funny?" demanded Sephiroth, whom she was practically sitting on.

"Oh, Avian acts as though she can't stand Irvine, and look at them now…" Sephiroth looked at them sleeping, and wished Gabrielle was still sleeping in his arms, and that he had been the first to wake up, so he could admire her peaceful beauty. Just then, a very disgruntled Leahann came into the room, dragging with her a bleary-eyed Joey. Leahann pulled a bullhorn from behind her back, and it let out a piercing squeal. Avian jumped, hitting Irvine on the chin with the top of her head. While Irvine was cursing and rubbing his chin, Avian had fallen off the couch, and was tangled in Irvine's trenchcoat with his cowboy hat covering her eyes. Irvine had apparently used his jacket to cover them last night. She got up, still blinded, and promptly tripped, Irvine catching her. He held her still, and gently lifted up the hat so that he could see her furious face. He said softly, "Well, fancy meetin' you here, little lady," then kissed her. Woes betide him…thought Leahann. Avian had been to Texas once, and all the guys hitting on her and calling her little lady had majorly pissed her off. Also Leahann was certain that no man kissed her without her knowing. Sure enough, Avian pile drove Irvine, and landed on top of him, cursing at the top of her lungs and punching him wherever she could get at. Gabrielle had to admit that Leahann was pretty damn good at wreaking some major havoc when she wanted to. Sephiroth, however, was not as amused as Gabrielle, and pulled Avian off Irvine, who was wincing as he clutched his side. Avian glared at Irvine, who grinned weakly anyway, and then huffed off to the kitchen to make breakfast. Suddenly, Vincent ran at top speed out of Gabrielle's room, a wild look in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Sephiroth asked him. Vincent looked around, spotted Gabrielle and asked, "How'd you get here so fast!"

"What are you talking about? I was with Sephiroth all night!" She said, blushing slightly. Vincent spluttered, "Bu- wha- when you- and I…" Then the answer to everyone's question came out of Gabrielle's room. Avian came out of the kitchen asking, "Guys, what…" She trailed off as she saw what the problem was. Another Gabrielle was leaning against the doorjamb, watching them all calmly.

"What'cha all staring at?" Joey asked cluelessly.

"You moron" Leahann smacked Joey over the head with a frying pan and pointed to the other Gabrielle standing in the doorway.

"Mornin' guys" the other Gabrielle yawned and took a seat at the table, "What? Is my hair on fire or something?"

"No, but who are you?" Gabrielle asked eyeing her double suspiciously.

"Who am I? You of all people should know Gabrielle, I've been with you since you were born."

"Wait, Ketaruema?" Gabrielle stared in disbelief. "You can't be her, you just can't."

"And why not? You've talked to me often enough."

"Yeah, but I thought I was talking to myself!"

"Am I the only one here who's just a little weirded out?" Avian asked.

Irvine mockingly went to hide behind Avian, who smacked him with a frying pan she was holding from pancake making.

"Hey, Gabrielle, do you think you could explain this!" said Vincent.

"Sure, my guess on the whole thing is this: the concentration of this many mutations and me using my powers must have amplified and mutated my powers causing them to stem off into a separate entity, henceforth creating Ketaruema."

"Huh? Could ya explain that again, in English this time please." Joey asked scratching his head.

"You moron!" Leahann raised the frying pan that Avian had given her to strike Joey but he whimpered and gave her his best puppy dog eyes and Leahann lowered the pan. "Gabrielle, you don't have to explain again, Joey's just being stupid."

"And so the weirdness ensues…" Gabrielle sighed and took a seat at the table across from her mutant twin.

"Quit calling me mutant!" Ketaruema shouted, "I can hear what you're all thinking!"

"¬­¬ ⌐­⌐" They all looked at each other and then back to Gabrielle and Ketaruema.

"Okay enough weirdness, let's just eat breakfast." Said Avian, quite used to so much weirdness due to her friends.

"Then you must have some weird friends." said Ketaruema.

Avian glared at her, and then said, "Okay, new rule. If you read someone's mind, keep your comments to yourself." Then everyone fell silent and ate their pancakes. Vincent kept glancing at Ketaruema, and Sephiroth did also, from Ketaruema to Gabrielle. After breakfast, the girls (except Ketaruema) went to their rooms to change outfits. Irvine glanced at the other guys, and they all grinned evilly. Irvine dashed to Avian's room, opened the door and dashed in, shutting the door behind him. Everyone put their fingers in their ears and cringed as Avian let out a shriek that probably made hell freeze over. She came running out of her room, chasing Irvine who was running for dear life. Avian was only wearing a flannel button-up shirt and had a pair of boxers. The flannel shirt was half-open, and it barely covered any indecencies. Irvine was laughing, yet still looked terrified. Avian finally caught up to him, and tried to bash his face in as she jumped on his back. He caught her and kissed her while she was fighting furiously, and oddly enough, as everyone watched, she kissed him back, stretching against his body. They walked backward to her room, still making out furiously. They went into her room, and Avian shut the door part way with her foot. Out of the door came a cowboy hat, a flannel shirt, and a trenchcoat.

"Okay, either there's a fondle-fest going on in there, or they're killing each other. I'm praying for the latter of the two." Exclaimed Gabrielle.

When Sephiroth had opened Gabrielle's door, he had been pulled in by the scruff of his neck. He was to help her pick out an outfit. Sephiroth walked into Gabrielle's closet and was amazed to see nothing but black leather, black leather shirts, mini-skirts, pants, trenchcoats, boots, pajamas, and other unmentionable objects of clothing.

"My God, is this all you own!" Sephiroth exclaimed.

"Yep, basically, I think I have one black silk dress for funerals though." Gabrielle started rummaging through her identical wardrobe when Sephiroth stopped her.

" I can't believe you have a problem deciding what to wear, everything's the same! Here just go put this on." Sephiroth handed Gabrielle a bundle of black leather.

"Okay, thanks." She said as she skipped off to change. Gabrielle appeared a few seconds later dressed in black leather pants, a low-cut leather shirt, and a silver leather trenchcoat with metal shoulder guards. "I didn't know I owned anything like this." Gabrielle stated, adjusting her shoulder guards.

"You don't, but I thought you needed a change from black leather, so I lent you my trenchcoat. If nothing else, it looks good on you. So how do I look?" Sephiroth asked teasingly.

"Well, I'd put a shirt on if I were you, because you draw far too much attention, being all buff and good looking as you are."

"But do you want me to put a shirt on?" Sephiroth asked with a smirk.

"That I believe, is a question for another time." Gabrielle glided over and wrapped her hand around his bicep, a smile spread across Sephiroth's face as Gabrielle began to rub his arms then work on up to his shoulders until she was giving him a full out body massage.

"Gabrielle, I think you should close the door." Sephiroth said pushing Gabrielle's soft hands off his chest.

"All right. But since you-" Gabrielle opened the door and in fell Leahann and Joey, who had both been listening in. "What the hell are you two doing!" Gabrielle screeched, her playful mood ruined.

"Uhh, would you believe that the hallway's slanted funny and we fell into your door the exact moment you opened it?' Leahann asked innocently.

"No, now out." Gabrielle said in a calmly poisonous tone.

"Well, uhh, bye!" Leahann and Joey ran out of the room and down the hall. Gabrielle chased them to the end of the hall then got bored.

"Well that ruins everything." Sephiroth called while buttoning one of Gabrielle's unisex black leather shirts. Gabrielle walked back to her room and shut the door, and locked it this time.

Now the two were standing there, watching clothes fly out of the door to Avian's room. Suddenly, the clothes stopped, and Avian and Irvine came out of the room, fully dressed.

"Mwaha, fooled you!" Said Avian, though they had been making out, they hadn't gone any farther. Avian had changed in her walk-in closet while Irvine threw the various clothing items out the door. They had wanted to freak everyone out, and had succeeded brilliantly. (Note to reader: we probably psyched you out too! Mwahahahahaha!) Avian had chosen a plaid miniskirt and a black T-shirt with a pair of thigh-length black leather boots. Irvine looked at her boots and asked, "Geez, how many cows did you guys kill?"

"I wouldn't be talking, Mr. Leather trenchcoat, boots, and hat and probably underwear too…"

"Okay! I get the idea!" Irvine said, raising his hands.

Avian took his hand and said, "Let's go somewhere now." to everyone. They had a brief argument about whether to go to the theater, shopping, or window shopping for cars. They ended up deciding on the theater, as most of them wanted to go somewhere dark and cozy. So, everyone went to the guy's apartment so they could put on some clean clothes. Irvine came out wearing a white T-shirt and jeans, and his usual cowboy hat. Gabrielle had gone into Sephiroth's room, and of course, everyone figured what they were doing…

Sephiroth had pulled Gabrielle into his room when no one was looking. She was helping him decide what to wear now.

"There's no Leahann this time to ruin the mood." Sephiroth whispered in Gabrielle's ear. He took off his shirt, and teasingly walked to his closet. Gabrielle followed, and when he got there and started to look around, she slid in front of him. He got the idea, and kissed her. It was like an explosion of fire. They were having a full-fledged "fondle-fest" as Gabrielle had called it earlier. By the time they stopped, they were lying on the floor, their clothes somewhat wrinkled. Gabrielle got up and brushed herself off, and Sephiroth got up also. She ran a hand down his smooth chest, and he kissed her again. Finally they picked out a black T-shirt for him to wear and walked out of Sephiroth's room. Everyone adverted their eyes as they walked into the room.

"Where's Vincent?" Gabrielle stared around, both Vincent and Ketaruema were missing.

"Well when you and Sephiroth went to his room, he got all red and said he had to go." Avian stared at her hands like they were an alien life form.

"Don't worry, he does this all the time." Sephiroth added putting his arm around Gabrielle's shoulder and pulling her tight.

"Where'd he go though?" Avian asked as if this was her fault.

"Ou! Ou! Ou! I know!" Leahann was practically falling out of her chair, "He said he was going back to our apartment!" Avian shook her head, never again would she let Leahann make coffee-pancakes…

They left the men's apartment, finally, and went to the movie theater. They went to see The Phantom of the Opera and bought some snacks, then took their seats.

"Why did we have to see this movie!" Gabrielle threw her hands up in question, as if asking god 'why?' then slumped down in a sticky yet comfy movie theater seat.

"Because it was the longest movie and the darkest with the most make-out-able scenes." Avian winked nudging Gabrielle and pointing to Sephiroth. Gabrielle knew what she meant.

"But what about poor Vincent, all alone with Ketaruema at our apartment."

"Oh, he'll be fine, now go sit over there by Sephiroth, the movie's starting." Avian pointed to the farthest row back and said, "Let's sit back there." Irvine was no where to be seen. Just as Avian was sitting down, he reappeared, sitting down and putting his hand in Avian's chair. She sat down on his hand, and was not peeved at all, but Irvine turned bright red. As the movie started, Leahann and Joey sat down a few rows in front of Avian and Irvine.

"Hey there's Kaiba!" Joey shouted pointing to a person a few rows down.

"Damnit, I've been found, worst of all, by the mutt!" Kaiba ducked and ran for the theater door closely followed by a tall brunette.

"Stop!" Joey ran after Kaiba demanding a rematch, Leahann suitably embarrassed ran after him and out of the theater.

"Well, Irvine, I guess it's just you, me, Gabrielle, and Sephiroth." They all sat down in their respective seats. (Avian and Irvine had stood up to see Joey make a moron of himself.) Irvine wrapped an arm around Avian's seat, and she snuggled into him. Sephiroth and Gabrielle were already making out…

Back at the apartment, Vincent was staring across the table at Ketaruema.

"So that was you last night, not Gabrielle, right?" Vincent questioned, Ketaruema was strange, he thought, she looked and acted exactly like Gabrielle, but her voice was different and her eyes were a slightly deeper color of gold rimmed with red, the only indication of her powers. Unlike Vincent whose eyes were pure red, Ketaruema, you'd swear had cat's eyes, and her long golden, red tinged hair reminded him of a book he'd once read, 'Blood and Gold'.

"Hello-o-o, earth to Vincent." Ketaruema's voice snapped him out of the trance.

"Hmm, what? huh?" Vincent blinked and rubbed his neck he felt two scabs right below his ear, he hadn't gotten much sleep last night, and here she was looking as if she had just woken from a thousand year sleep.

"oh, poor Vincent" Ketaruema laughed "I'd better let you get some sleep."

When she laughed, Vincent noticed her canines were longer than before, and her skin was a more porcelain tone, but he didn't care, he finally had someone who understood him. He was so tired he fell asleep on the table. Ketaruema got up and got him a blanket, carefully avoiding the patch of sunlight coming through the curtains then went to Gabrielle's room to sleep.